October 2014 Expenditures

I am thrilled to report that we made it through October without turning our heat on! And it was by the skin of Frugal Hound’s fangs too. Temperatures here in Cambridge, MA plummeted into the 30’s (Fahrenheit) on Halloween night and we thought we might not scrape by. But, we persevered and didn’t succumb until November 1st.

Even with the heat on though,Mr. Frugalwoods and I keep our home at 58 degrees (when we’re asleep or out of the house) and 62 degrees (when we’re awake and at home). Check out my 11 Frugal Hacks to Stay Warm and Save Money This Winter to see how we’re staying toasty on the cheap.

Mr. FW and Frugal Hound enjoying a late October stroll along the Charles River

Groceries were remarkably low in October, to which I propose a frugal weirdo high-five! I know that November’s spending will be pretty substantial, as we’re delighted to be hosting Thanksgiving dinner, so, it was good to have a cheap October. Not quite as cheap as September, but, anytime our expenses–other than our mortgage–are under $1,000, we’re happy campers.

Frugal Hound snuggling down for the winter

As regular readers know, the below spreadsheet reflects every single purchase Mr. FW and I made all month long. We track every dime we spend in order to keep ourselves on target with saving 65%-85% of our take-home pay (after maxing out our 401Ks). Curious how we keep costs so low? Check out How We Save 65% Annually and, if you’re up for some hardcore frugal adventuring, take my Uber Frugal Month Challenge.

If you want to know why some typical line items are absent from our budget, head over to our August Expenses, where I detail the deal on these missing items

And now, sit back, relax, and enjoy creeping through the Frugalwoods expense report:

Item/Vendor

Amount

Frugalwoods Musings

Mortgage & Escrow for Taxes & Insurance

$2,741.01

Yep, it’s high. But, we live in a very high COL city (Cambridge, MA) and this house will be our cash-flowin’ rental after we decamp to our rural homestead.

Pleased as Frugal Hound with a treat! This is a record low for us. Mr. FW has been cooking even more from scratch and we’re on the rice-and-beans train for lunch every day. Woohoo!

Water Bill (For 3 Months)

$128.76

Our water bill is paid every three months. I’m delighted with $42.92/month for water. We’ve worked hard to decrease our loads of laundry and take shorter showers. Hooray less water! Cheaper and better for the environment.

107 Responses

Whoooo! Awesome month. I finally broke down and turned the heat on this weekend too – we had a freeze warning. And now I think this week will be back up to the mid 70s…..gotta love this crazy fall weather.

Quite impressive numbers! You could teach me a few things for sure. We spend the most money on food so looking at how we can cut back. Only one tank of gas for the entire month? That’s amazing! Do you live close to work or walk/bike most? We broke down and turned on the heat this weekend also, bummer!

Thanks so much, I appreciate it! We are indeed fortunate to live in the middle of the city and so, Mr. FW bikes to work and we walk/bike/public transit most other places. I have a 10 min drive to work, so, we usually get by on one tank a month (two tanks if we travel to a distant trailhead for a hike).

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Wow that’s incredible that you didn’t turn on the heat. Ours is running right now and I’m happy to not be shivering as I type this haha. But anyway I haven’t added up our October financials yet but unless I’m missing something they should be fairly standard.

It looks like you guys had a great month! We try to shop at Costco for mostly everything as well. We did make one “splurge” but I hesitate to use the word as it doesn’t really feel like one. We picked up electric toothbrushes at Costco this weekend with the hopes that these will improve our long-term dental health. So that was like $100. I don’t feel too guilty about the expense and hope it pays off.

I’m so impressed with the heat situation, first of all – way to go! And your groceries (even if you include Costco), compared to mine are less! We’re spending about $500 (groceries, bulk, toiletries, etc) compared to your $320. Do you coupon? I always pack lunches and cook from scratch. Maybe we should eat less meat…

Thanks so much, Natalie! I actually don’t coupon because I find that coupons are usually for things we don’t need.

To keep costs down, we don’t buy much packaged food and we cook just about everything from scratch (bread, soups, oatmeal, hummus, etc). So, most of what we buy are bulk, raw ingredients (flour, beans, oats, fresh fruits & vegetables) which tend to be cheaper. We also don’t really eat meat or dairy, which helps a lot. But, $500 is really good–you should be proud!!

Wow! That is an awesome gas bill!! We have a gas stove and water, so ours will be a little higher, but I am excited to see our October number since we didn’t turn our heat on as well. We actually turned it on yesterday for the first time but that was because my nieces were coming over and I didn’t want them to freeze. Typically our home stays around 56-60 in the winter. My son and I are incredibly warm sleepers, hubby just throws on another blanket and since Spumoni is a Himalyan, he is built for this type of weather. 🙂

I was so impressed on Saturday that you hadn’t turned your heat on yet! It was a cold, nasty weekend here in the northeast. We were buried under blankets even with our scant heat on. Wow, 56-60 is intense! Making me sound like a sauna over here at 62 ;)!

We pay for cooking gas and that bill runs around $20 for 30 days and we only use 4-5 therms. The killer is that the majority of that amount is delivery fees and taxes! Congrats on another solid month in spending.

Way to battle through the cold!! I tuned on my heat this week (gas) only to burn off that first time use horrible smell so I could open all the doors. I had a decent month as far as spending (but too much on food-so I’m super impressed by your number) but another bad month as far as income.

Did not having any luck convincing Mr. FP to turn heat below 65, but I guess that’s not too bad.

I went over SIX HUNDRED for four people worth of groceries! Really trying to get that down. This month: Homemade hummus, more homemade yogurt, and working on an equally convenient but cheaper alternative to Grape Nuts for Mr. FP. Also, scouring Budget Bytes for meal options around the dollar-per-serving range. Mr. FP is never satisfied with one serving and sometimes the toddlers aren’t, either!

65 sounds pretty good to me! As does $600–you do have four mouths there :)! Hint on the homemade hummus: we actually don’t use any Tahini in ours (that stuff is just too dang expensive). So, our homemade hummus takes mostly like hummus and is a lot cheaper!

Do you substitute some other ingredient or is it just mashed chickpeas with garlic and oil and stuff? We used to get tahini fairly reasonably at Walmart but I fear it will be quite expensive at Sprouts (our new Walmart does not carry it).

I haven’t written a post about my Lasik, but I’m starting to think I should :). It was the BEST health-related decision I’ve ever made. I cannot tell you how happy I am that I did it. They gave me valium before the surgery and my eyes were totally numb, so I couldn’t feel a thing. I highly, highly recommend it!

Wow! Great month in the FW household. 🙂 I’ve been sticking to my budget (with my FT job income) fairly well, but I’ve been bad otherwise. I’ve been spending my PT job income and my freelance income on tihngs I shouldn’t – eating out, shopping, etc – when I should be putting most of it toward debt and savings. I’m hoping to do better about that in November.

The key to not getting sick of it is making it tasty! 🙂 I tweak my recipe almost every time, and after making every week for months… you start getting really good at it.

Rice and beans is a classic healthy meal. High in complete protein (the rice and bean combo does that), low glycemic carbs, moderate amounts of good fat (olive oil), and whatever leftover veggies I need to get rid of.

I’ve found that since most people in the world live on rice and beans, there are plenty of variations to keep it interesting. And the internet is loaded with recipes from all over the world.

If I tell you that we had kidney beans on Monday, lentils on tuesday, and black beans on Wednesday, maybe you are going to start feeling sorry for me. But if I say we had maharagwe, then mujadara, then frijoles negros, suddenly that sounds a lot less depressing, right?

That’s a really great point. Embracing ethnic cooking is definitely good for the taste bud as well as the wallet! I need to get better about branching out beyond classic central american dishes. Learning some Indian classics is on my to-do list.

We live in an apartment building with 7 units so our heat is included in the rent. This means I don’t have to worry about keeping it low, but I also don’t have control of it! At least our rent is inexpensive.

We made it till 02Nov just because we were away this weekend. I hope the cats used the blankets while we were gone! Our basement is exceptionally chilly because there’s no carpet or curtains down there. Definitely going to be a big savings once we get the carpet plopped in and put up some thick curtains.

The scariest part was waiting for it to kick on since we just moved in in July… didn’t really get a chance to test it out other than the inspector doing his thing.

That is a lot of dough for your house, but at least you plan on renting it out long term! We also think of that as an option and plan on paying our mortgage down quickly. We were able to throw almost an extra 3k towards principal this month! Stoked!

Yeah, the deductions are nice and our rate is similar (4.25%), but this is the first debt we’ve had since student loans… I just imagine not having to shell out that money every month and get giddy. On top of that, the market’s been soaring now so it makes it seem an even better time to pour money into my mortgage. I can swing any extra dough into investments if the market tanks and stocks go on sale though!

I’m super jealous of your fuel expense! $44.49 is impressive! I wish I could do that. Although I cut my fuel expense by almost half this month it’s still a lot with the husband driving all over for work and me picking up/dropping off kids everywhere (school, extra curricular activities).

You are very focused to keep your heat so low when you save so much. I would not want ours under 70. It’s worth the few extra bucks to not be cold for me and my kids would freeze. Do you eat rice and beans for every single lunch?

Thanks so much! We stay pretty warm and toasty–just with clothes, blankets, and my magic rice tube (not actually magic, just rice in a tube that I heat up in the microwave…:) so cozy!). We eat a rice, beans, and mushroom combo that Mr. FW cooks for our work lunches M-F. It’s a super tasty dish that costs about .10 cents a serving. YUM!

Oh that’s too bad! Well, hopefully your prescription will even out soon! It was definitely a good decision and I’m very glad we spent the money for it. But, I do think you have to have a steady prescription for a few years prior.

Wow that’s a very impressive monthly spending you got there. I’d love to hear about your experience with Lasik. My prescription has not changed for years now and every time I go to get my eyes checked, the optometrist always recommends Lasik.

Good job on the heat! I don’t have control over the heat right now, but after trick-or-treating with Daughter Person in almost freezing rain, I was glad my mom had turned it on! I too tend to go as long as possible without turning on either heat or A/C though.

Great job!!! That was a very good month indeed!
We had an ok month, but we plan on November being fairly cheap. We were excited because last week was the first time since March that we didn’t have to turn on our A/C. Its been down in the 80’s during the day, and 60’s at night, so it really feels like fall now, so we are hopefully going to have a substantially lower electric bill for November.

I was watching the Broncos/Patriots game yesterday and saw the snow they had to scrape of the field. I wondered if you had to turn on the heat. I sure would have! We caved a couple of weeks ago. Our grocery spending was great in October, but you still put us to shame.

Hey, how did your October go as far as our challenge at The Barefoot Budgeter to not spend on restaurants, carry-out, delivery, etc? Autumn spent $184, which was a success as it was under her budget of $200. Mine was $105, which is exceedingly better than my usual $200+. I gave in a few times but when I did, I thought of our challenge and bowed my head in shame lol.

Did your grocery amount of $134 include restaurants or were you and Mr. Frugalwoods so committed and successful that you did not spend a single dime on restaurants? You two seem like a very well-oiled frugal master machine so I certainly wouldn’t doubt you achieving $0 in the restaurant expense category! :). As I said, I gave in a few times but really struggled with it each time.

Hi there! We actually did achieve $0 in restaurants/carry-out/delivery. Our grocery budget is just for grocery store stuff that Mr. FW cooked at home for us. It’s interesting–once we stopped eating out, we kinda just lost the taste for it (bad pun). We’re so accustomed to eating every meal at home now, that it doesn’t cross our minds as an option anymore. I do enjoy a good meal out every now and then, but, I’m thankful that Mr. FW is a really good cook!

And, I think you did awesome at $105 vs. $200–that’s an incredible reduction! Way to go! Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing 🙂

You two definitely set the bar high. You inspire many of us more than you think. I think one of your recent blog posts had a photo of your guest bedroom. There was just a simple bed, table, dresser and a couple decorations yet it still looked “cozy” and “full.” That picture inspired me to do some decluttering of my own at my apartment. I removed some unneeded furniture, took some things to Goodwill, and created more open space. It was refreshing and it honestly was a direct result from that photo. 🙂

Awww, thank you!! That guest bed is somewhat minimal and cool… but we didn’t show the other unused bedroom!! 😉 Mrs. FW is a decorating and organizing maven. Before her, my apartments could best be described as “jumbled spartan”!

Congratulations to us! I also have a job well done for the month of October. I have overpaid my credit card loan (20 percent) than what I expected. How good is that? My long term savings seem to be good also. Hope this continues until December. I am getting really excited, I’m almost there!

Impressive expenditures! Your food bill is so low!
I had a great debt payment month and an average month for expenditures. My husband had a crazy busy work month and we fell victim to “Let’s just grab something easy for dinner” too many times. Something to work on for November!

I totally know where you are coming from, that’s something we’ve often struggled with in the past.

One of the things that has made a difference in fighting those urges is to always have something easy pre-made (or nearly pre-made) in the fridge. This takes a little bit of prep on the weekends… but there are plenty of nights where I really don’t feel like spending more than 10 minutes pulling dinner together.

I think your expenditures look great! Outside of the mortgage and other bills associated with the home, it’s incredible that you’ve managed to keep everything under $1000 — and it sounds like your explanation for what is going to happen with the home is pretty solid.

I`m so impressed you made it until November 1st without heat. You two keep the house quite chilly, even when you do have the heat on though, so I suppose it`s all relative 🙂 Great job with another kick-ass month!

I’m with you on turning the heat on! We’re in Halifax so having similar weather as you guys though maybe slightly warmer (fyi Boston is one of my Favorite cities in the world). We turned it on yesterday for thw first time and determined to keep costs low thia year!

Congratulations for not turning on the heat in October. I still have not yet turned mine on, not because I am frugal, but because I have started getting headaches from the heating. I will see how much longer I can go

You should think about having your furnace checked out. It it’s gas, have it checked for carbon monoxide, if it’s oil, have it checked for holes or cracks in the heat exchanger, or even a plugged chimney. Don’t take chances on your health. Signed, Jay (the HVAC guy)

Great month. Other than the mortgage, you guys are spending very little money.

We also ran without any type of HVAC for most of the month. It’s been mostly between 78 and 82 degrees down here for a while now, which requires no A/C. Love the lower electricity bills. As you say, better for the wallet and the environment.

Good job leaving the heat off during October. We (well, Mrs. RootofGood mostly) are wusses when it comes to heating and air. We turned on the heat toward the end of October when it dipped into the 30’s at night and didn’t get above 60 during the day. It was 62 inside the house (which to Mrs. RootofGood might as well be sub zero).

As for your expenses, they look pretty damn good. Getting it all under $1,000 excluding the mortgage is magic.

Thanks for the kind comments! Spending this low really makes us feel good about our eventual plans for retiring early. I’ve always found it too easy to put numbers on a spreadsheet… we wanted to see what we could actually cut down to.

I expect we’ll actually spend somewhat more than this when we’re retired, but knowing what our lowest non-emergency level of spending is should help us plan for adjusting our safe withdrawal rate in terrible market years.

We were just running through the “what if” scenarios last night (yes, that’s what we did on a Friday night for fun). We could even reduce our spending below today’s level if we have to. Mrs. Root of Good said “guess the sushi and champagne will have to go”. That and cutting vacations would go a long way if the markets turn really really ugly.

I just read your tips on how to keep yourself warm and save money this winter and have decided to try and keep heating my place to a minimum. Acclimating will probably be the most effective, even though I absolutely do not like cold weather.

Wow! It’s really the opposite of New England living! Neat that you can mostly make it without heat in the winter though. Burning fossil fuels to stay warm adds up fast. Wish we could go lower, but our 120 year old house just isn’t that warm.

We don’t count principal repayment as part of our savings rate. Paying down principal is great… but it’s not something we could easily access if needed.

It’s also something that is “required” and we’re mostly interested in savings that come via choices we’ve made. More of a measuring stick for how we’re doing financially… and somehow principal doesn’t seem to fit in that bucket.

But you’re totally right, it is technically savings. And I do look at that number in our yearly financial review, mostly for curiosity’s sake.

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